Crescent Falling
by 252 Reluctant Saviour
Summary: A Republic task force sent to destroy a CIS manufacturing plant make a strange discovery. Meanwhile, the Sangheili homeworld is attacked by an army of droids and their cowardly leaders.
1. Contact

**A/N: Hey all, 252RS here. If you're reading this, thanks, please review, etcetera. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Halo, Alien Swarm or Star Wars, unfortunately. However, non canon characters, vehicles and weapons belong to TCB Industries or Absoul Co., Australia.**

Three Cheetah fighters, long, graceful and thin dashed across the dark canvas of space. Plasma cannons, one on either side of the black view port, hummed and whirred to life. Ahead, the six mothballed Sabre fighters exploded, beams of burning red cutting swathes through old armour and damaged machinery.

"Cheetah Lead to _UOAG Thermopylae, _targets eliminated. Returning from attack run."

The three wedge-fronted star fighters pulled into the bow hanger of the UOAG frigate and the three pilots, two humans and a Sangheili, climbed from their craft, sliding down the red hulls and landing safely on two feet in the hanger bay. As they made their way towards the back of the hanger, a group of humans, Sangheili, and two Unggoy appeared in the doorway. Two Mgalekgolo joined them, stepping one at a time through the narrow portal.

"Well done, pilots. At least this time nothing exploded." The captain said, shaking hands with Jake, Alley and then Theel. As he finished, he turned to the group with him. "Hector, do what you do best."

"Certainly, sir. These here…" the bald mechanic indicated the Cheetah fighters with his left hand, "are prototype mark four space superiority fighters, AKA Cheetahs. Three times as fast as the good old UNSC Longsword, equipped with cannons that shoot cutting beams of red plasma, and a light energy shield. Armour is weak, but the ship's fast enough to dodge most attacks, so that's fine. It's equipped with a self destruct system which triggers once it registers both sufficient damage and lack of a living pilot. This means attempting to board the craft and forcing open the view port causes it to explode. Also useful against close-range fighters, due to the blast radius." Hector smiled and led the group over the fighters.

"Also, that impossible shot to the inside of the engines? That just got even more impossible. Engines are equipped with a spiral cover which generates a small energy field. It would take about twelve hits in a row, ten to get the shield, one for the cover and one for the engine itself. With the Cheetah's speed, there's no way you're going to be tailgating long enough for twelve shots."

"Thank you for that, Hector. Any questions?" Captain Lagnier asked.

The group fell silent whilst they complemented this. Captain Lagnier looked around.

"No? Good. Hector, prep the Tigers. Everyone else, on me."

"Aye, sir!" Hector saluted and hurried over to the gold-painted interceptors as everyone else headed to the secondary bridge at the front of the vessel.

Three pilots in gold jumpsuits came out from the pilot's lounge and strode over to the small Tiger fighters. The one human of them waved at Jake, Alley and Hector. The two Sangheili just nodded at their kinsman before squeezing their large frames into the small fighters.

"How do they do that?" Alley wondered aloud as the three fighters fired up their anti-gravity drives and lifted from the floor. As one, the ships rocketed through the containment field, blasting into the void.

"God only knows…come on, let's get some brandy!" The three pilots chuckled and headed for the pilot's lounge.

Meanwhile, in the blackness of space, three grey ships were dashing through the debris, even faster then the Cheetah's had. One of them fired its four plasma cannons and the asteroid in front of it was completely disintegrated. As they sped out of the asteroid field, Yakiza 'Vadam's four mandibles drooped. At the edge of the system, three corvette-sized arrowhead ships and a larger, longer arrowhead ship were sitting.

"T-t-this is T-tiger l-lead to _UOAG Thermopylae,_ we have unknown contacts, hundred k's and closing!"

On the bridge of the _Thermopylae, _the military officers turned to each other as the radar officer confirmed the claims.

Everyone on the bridge looked at Lagnier.

"Initiate Harvest Protocol, send message to HIGHCOM. Helm, take us in."

"Aye, sir!" The Sangheili replied. The ship shuddered and turned towards the asteroid field. It stopped mid-turn and began sliding forward.

"No." The captain shook his head. "Going around is too slow. Get a targeting solution for the MMAC and fire."

Now it was Tiberius' turn. The ship's generation four smart AI smiled. "Firing solution locked. Making course adjustments… ready to fire on your command. Recommend you fire in twelve seconds for maximum penetration." The AI's avatar, a gold-tinted Cyclops of myth with a glowing red eye, shrunk and slid to one side of the holoboard. The rest was taken up by a timer, ticking down from ten seconds. As the timer reached zero, the captain gave the order.

"Fire!"

The Main Magnetic Accelerator Cannon fired a one thousand four hundred ton depleted uranium round at eighty percent the speed of light which smashed through the asteroid field like a wrecking ball through a corn field. In a matter of seconds, the four unknown vessels became visible through the gaping hole in the field of debris.

"Sir, may I recommend moving full speed. I estimate only seventy six seconds before the gap is too small to move through." Tiberius informed them in his deep gravely voice.

"Do it."

The helm punched in a few keys, and the ship lurched into motion once more, gaining speed as it went. The ship passed through the asteroid field easily, with only a few small boulders and pebbles impacting on the shield. As the ship emerged from the rocks, the comms station buzzed.

"Patch it to my console." The captain said. The comms officer complied and in seconds Lagnier found himself looking face-to-face with a black visor, framed by a white helmet. Suddenly, the screen went dark and the holoboard lit up. The torso of an alien creature appeared.

Tiberius looked at the holographic image beside his avatar. "Unbelievable… live holographic units used for two-way communication…why didn't we think of this? Also, sir, since our holoboard is not designed for such, it is entirely possible that they can only see me. "

"Great…will it be able to hear me?"

"I doubt it, sir. Even if they could, they wouldn't be able to understand you. Probably. Chance of dialect being understood is approximately sixty seven trillion, six hundred and twelve billi-"

"That's great, but I don't need statistics. I need results. Chop chop."

###

Ahsoka Tano looked at the holographic creature as if it were something she had never seen before. Which it was, she reasoned. Not only that, but it appeared to be talking to someone else not on the holopad. Which meant the ship was an older model. Anakin and Obi-Wan entered from the bridge, standing beside the young Togruta warrior.

"Hey, Snips, what did I tell you about keeping pets?" Anakin joked.

"More importantly, what's been said?" Obi-Wan asked.

"Well, first the beast thing said something about the holograms, and how we'd only be able to see him, which is true. Then he said something about our dialects being the same. Some really small probability. Sixty seven trillion and something to one, I guess."

"Well, that's ironic." Anakin muttered, a hint of disbelief in his voice.

Suddenly, the beast began speaking again. "Perhaps, Senator. I will try to boost the speaker systems, and link in the microphone unit. If this works, you will be able to hear each other properly. As I sai-" The creature paused. "Yes sir."

The speakers spat static for a few seconds, before changing to a state of organised chaos. Many voices blabbered on as one. All fell silent as a single voice carried clearly through the microphone.

"This is Captain Lagnier of the UOAG to unknown vessels, please identify yourself."

The three Jedi looked at each other before Obi-Wan spoke up. "I am Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Jedi in the Republic...May I ask who the UOAG are, exactly?"

There was silence, before the creature on the holopad spoke up once again. "You do not know of the UOAG…yet your technology clearly suggests you are far from insurrectionists. We have never heard of this 'Republic' of which you speak. But I digress. By order of the Harvest protocol, you must send a single dropship with whoever you require for negotiations to our ship, or else we will open fire upon you for intruding upon a military installation. You saw what the MMAC did to the debris, I presume. I doubt you wish to find out what it would do against your ships."

"Harvest protocol?" Ahsoka tipped her head. "What's that?"

Lagnier spoke again. "It's a long story. Do you wish to negotiate here, or on the nearest habitable planet, which would be…"

"Diallis" The beast said. "I will send you the co-ordinates now. You will proceed to these co-ordinates or you _will_ be eliminated."

Admiral Yarulen chose this moment to enter the conversation. "We have received the co-ordinates, however our starcharts do not map this far into Wild Space."

Lagnier's clearly audible sigh was followed by a crisp "So?"

"Well to avoid being dragged into gravity wells, we take courses around larger stars, planets and planetoids."

"So you don't use slipspace? You know what, never mind. Tiberius, send them a starchart."

"As you wish, sir." The holographic figure nodded. "Files sent. I will note that those maps are recent and thus non-public. If you leak this information, you _will_ be destroyed. Painfully. As dictated by the Harvest protocol, this conversation is now over until the meeting takes place." The hologram winked out, followed by the sound seconds later.

"Well." Obi-Wan rubbed his chin. "This just got very interesting."

"One way of putting it." Yarulen agreed.


	2. Hostile

**A/N: Thanks Ninja named Steve and "Reader" for the reviews. **

Sua 'Varu rubbed his eye. There was never anything to do on this outpost, besides watch radar screens. _If only, when I get shifted from here, I can go on the field, go to combat against the Brutes, get to Major Domo…_

A beeping on the High Speed Scanner shook him from his trance. "Huh?" He looked at the screen. Several contacts, coming fast, too fast for normal engines…suddenly, from the viewport, several long pencil-like ships appeared in space. Even as he watched, the ships shrunk, like an elastic band freed of tension. The ships, now normal-sized, or apparently so, looked to be at least one kilometre long. Sua's eyes darted from the viewscreen, the firing controls, and the alarm. Taking a deep breath in, he placed his hand firmly on the red holopad.

###

"Sir, we have received an alarm from Defence Station Centuria Six! Uploading data core now." The human officer handed the Arbiter the pad. The Sangheili leader read the report quickly.

"I have seen from the humans, a report taken from one of the stranger's ships. These in orbit above are planet are very dishonourable, even less honourable then the Republic. At least the Republic uses real men, even if they are clones. These people, this CIS, they use armies of robots, automatons with no honour, no dignity. As long as they don't attack, however, we will not act."

"Yes sir!" The human snapped a salute and left.

###

"So, did it work?" The hooded figure on the holopad cackled.

"Perhaps, my lord. The Republic acted early, only reading three of the five messages. It appears they have gone to the wrong area, one of the older co-ordinates. We will hunt them down…however, our ships have taken damage during the journey, and we must repair our ships. This planet should do fine. Permission to colonise?" The Neimoidian officer smiled, blissfully unaware of the true power of the hag he was speaking to.

"Hm…yes, very well. If anyone is there…kill them. When we're done, they're going to be happy we lacked mercy." The hag let out an evil laugh, before cutting off the communications.

The officer turned to his superiors. "We have permission to-"

"Yes, we know. We were listening. Helm, plot a course. Comms, launch all invasion forces. Tell the other ships to do likewise."

"Roger roger!" The droids set to work. As the Neimoidian crew watched, every one of the sixteen _Providence _class destroyers deployed landing craft, fighters, gunships and bombers. Like a swarm of ants marching for food, they flocked to the planet below.

###

The Arbiter glanced curiously at the officer. This was the second time the human had come to him. "Speak your mind, human."

"Sir, the unknown contacts have deployed units. They bombed Ocasa, sixteen thousand dead. Convoys are being fired at by fighters and artillery, and we have unconfirmed reports that they have tanks clearing out an area, possibly for a firebase."

The Arbiter's curious smile turned into an angry frown. "Tell Supreme Commander Rtas to open fire on all contacts. I want fighters scrambled and defence stations firing! Have the Special Operations division and one of your vehicular divisions here, now! I will lead the ground assault. I trust Rtas will lead us to victory in space. Go!"

The officer left the room for the second time in as many hours. The Arbiter stood from his throne, stretched his legs, and followed.

###

Division Commander Jason Reed was still wondering what the hell was going on. He had been ordered by the Head of Defence to bring his division to Vadam. Since then, he'd met up with a Special Operations division and had his unit commandeered by none less then the Arbiter, last living hero of the war. And, according to one of the Sangheili Ultras riding on the side of his Serpent tank, they were going to squash an alien invasion. He was in a bad mood because of it. His AI, Fear, seemed to love the idea.

"I say, lovely day to squash some aliens, eh, old chap? There's a few tanks, a bit of a breeze and plenty of tea, biscuits and shredder rounds to go around! This should be a brilliant alien uprising!"

"And how many alien uprisings have you seen? Well, actually if you think about it it's more an alien invasion, but, whatever. Just shut up, ok?"

The holographic rock musician's guitar disappeared with a poof. "As you say, old chap."

Suddenly, the malfunctioning AI's avatar disappeared, replaced by an image of the Arbiter. "Human, their vehicles are coming. We need our Wraiths to take their artillery out, so protect those. Any light vehicles can be taken by the Ghosts, the Spectres, Mongooses and Warthogs can take anything bigger. Use your tanks against theirs, and we will win!"

Reed nodded. "Yes sir!" The hologram turned off. Reed stood, pushing up the hatch and exposing him to the _thwump, thwump _of the enemy artillery and the whining of the Wraiths. Turning to the rest of his division, he yelled "ALRIGHT BOYS AND GIRLS, LET THEM HAVE IT!"

Almost two hundred Warthogs, three hundred Mongooses and a hundred and sixty Scorpions, backed up by twenty Serpents, began firing. Scorpions ganged up on the large brown transports, bringing them down in seconds. Ghosts zipped around, blasting enemy gun platforms from the sky. Warthogs and Spectres were running riot, their plasma bolts tearing holes in enemy tanks. Rocket jockeys and a few fuel rod wielders rode around on the back of the Mongooses, emptying their payload into any enemy vehicle they could find.

Reed ducked back into his tank and slammed the accelerator, driving the blocky tank up the hill. His gun loader looked at him as if he were insane. "Eh, sir.."

"Load a HE round, we're going to take out those landing craft things!" He pointed at the huge H-shaped landing craft. "Blow it out of the sky!" He roared.

The main cannon roared its agreement, and the gunner let out a grin. An explosion rocked the side of the Lander. A wing broke off, slamming into a formation of STAP speeders. The rest of the ships crashed were the Human-Covenant forces had been a minute before. Cries of "What the heck?" and "That was close!" filled the com.

"Fear, shut down the speakers, unless it sounds important."

"Very well, old chap!" The AI smiled, and the interior of the tank fell silent once more.

"Sir!" The machine gunner yelled. "Here come their infantry!"

"Tell the Arbiter. This fight's just getting started!"

**A/N: Alright, guys, lots of combat these next two chapters. First up, some good old Covie space ownage, followed by a health dose of ground combat with a siding of tanks.**

**R&R, please! **

**252RS out!**


	3. Renegade

**A/N: Er. NnS, I haven't received any hatemail. Dunno what you're talking about. **

**Also, this is just a short update which I was going to include in the space battle, but I decided it was to long and important so I separated it. Space battle coming soon. I promise.**

The Rodian paced the bridge of the command cruiser. The four Neimoidian commanders were watching him.

"So you used me to capture this Jedi, then you were going to ditch me on some backwater planet and get the profit, huh? Smart, greedy Neimoidians. Well you should know two things before I go. One, I don't like it when people steal my targets. And two, you really should be heading to the escape pods. Otherwise, that bomb I planted under the hoverpad beneath your chair might go off, creating a breach and sucking the air from your lungs. Sunhawk out." The Rodian left, ignoring the Neimoidian's faces of horror and shock, and placed his ornate helmet on his head.

The three commanders turned to their superior. "Sir?" One of them asked, tilting his head.

The mission commander nodded at his subordinates. "It is time we took our exit." The Neimoidians rushed to the escape pod bay, loading into one of the surprisingly large pods. Before the last one shut the door, the commander held up his hand. "We may need the survival kits from the other pods."

"I'll get them, sir!" The youngest officer dashed off, returning a minute later with five survival kits. "I don't think we'll need more than that, sir."

"Agreed. Get in, and get comfortable. Let's go!"

The pod jettisoned away into the darkness, waiting to be picked up by the reserve force of sixty frigates which would already be on their way.

###

Cecill Sunhawk didn't stop when the droids asked him to. He drew his pistol and blasted the first droid, sending the vibroblade attached to the bottom of his arm into the other. He looked at the two droids. One was on the floor, sparks showering from its neck, and the other was broken in half and folded over itself. Cecill's snout contracted, the Rodian's version of a smile.

He stepped through the doorway into the brig. The captured clone in the cell on the left raised an eyebrow in surprise. The Jedi in the cell to his right mumbled incoherently, a result of the neural band around his neck. The other four occupied cells held the four strangers they had captured back in the outer rim, on that abandoned space station. Cecill shook his head at the memory of the alien parasites. "Alright, guys, who here wants to leave?"

"What? Are you crazy? You can't just walk out of a CIS cruiser?" The clone waved his hands for emphasis.

"Shut up. I never said it would be a walk in the park. You four, coming?" Cecill turned to the sergeant of the team.

"Eh. Better than this, surely."

"Alright, that's seven tickets the hell outta here. My fighter is in Hanger 2-M. We can fly out, hook up with my frigate, and leave, defect, whatever. Maybe I'll even let the Jedi go with you." He nodded at the clone. "Let's go."

He raised his pistol again and shot the control panel at the end of the corridor. The energy fields faded.

"There I was thinking that only works in movies." One of the strangers mumbled. The sergeant silenced him with a gaze.

"Gear up, squad, we're bailing out!" The four men, plus the clone, hurried out of their cells and grabbed their equipment from the pile in the corner. In less than a minute, Cecill found himself looking at a clone trooper in full armour and four tall, bulky black-clad figures armed with slugthrowers.

"Let's roll." Cecill contracted his snout again, before placing his pistol on his hip and drawing his rifle from his back.

###

Several scrapped droid patrols and one wounded demolitions man later, the rattag group arrived at Hanger 2-M. In the middle of the hanger sat a white ship, gold streaks shining in the light. A single cylinder-shaped portion took the middle section of the ship. The cockpit and engines were attached to this cylinder.

"Get aboard." Cecill blinked a few times at his HUD, and a hatch just below and in front of the engines swung downwards, creating a ramp. The group climbed aboard. Cecill threw the Jedi roughly into the cell at the back of the ship, sealed the door, and strode to the front, seating himself in the pilot's chair. The sergeant sat at his operations chair.

"Alright, Rookie, put Crash on the bed, patch him up. Charge…do whatever it is you do." He was met with a chorus of 'Yes sir!' He turned to Cecill. "Any reason in particular you decided to break us out?"

"Yeah…you know how hard it is to fight droids with an unconscious Jedi over one shoulder? I needed the help, and lo and behold, there were five soldiers right were I needed them, ready armed."

The sergeant must have decided this was good enough, because he moved aside and went to speak in hushed tones with the man he had addressed as 'Charge'

Cecill shrugged and booted up the drive. The hanger doors began to crack open slowly. Cecill hit the thrusters. The clone pointed. "Are you trying to kill us all? We'll never fit through there!"

Cecill looked at him and flicked a switch on the dashboard. Suddenly, the wings rotated from the sides to the top and bottom of the ship. It slid between the hanger doors and turned away to the right, away from the space battle raging behind.

"Next stop, the Riot Runner."


	4. Invasion

**A/N: Space battle time is here. Enjoy!**

Supreme Commander Rtas 'Vadam nodded at the holographic image. "Yes, Arbiter. We shall crush these dishonourable creatures like Bha Ants under our feet."

The Arbiter on the other end of the screen nodded. "May my blessing fight alongside you."

The screen went black. "Sir, enemy ships are beginning to charge weapon systems. Don't know what kind, looks like plasma though. Or lasers." The second in command, a human admiral named Emirates informed him.

"Very well. Launch the fighters, charge the weapons, load missiles and set shields to general defence. I want those stations online now!" The Sangheili yelled the orders, and the bridge crew got to work. "I am going to the Auxiliary Bridge to command the battle from there. Emirates, stay here. If the Aux Bridge gets hit, I want to have another officer ready to clean up."

"Aye, sir!" The human saluted. The Sangheili strode towards the teleporter. He keyed in a combination and the reverse-engineered portal turned on. Rtas stepped through, appearing in the Auxiliary Bridge. He stepped over to the tacmap.

"How goes it?" He asked

"Turrets at seventy nine percent charge, MMAC loaded with a shredder, plasma torpedoes charged, missile pods A through T ready, all awaiting targeting solutions. Forward energy projector charged. In range in five."

As the Supreme commander watched, three of the stations above Sangheilos, the 'Vadam Battlegroup' as the humans called it, opened fire. Super MAC rounds and high density plasma beams raced across the void, slamming into enemy ships with such force that one of the MAC rounds cut right through one's shields and sent it spiralling with a huge hole in its front. The other sixteen ships began firing, streaks of red light zipping across space, colliding with the shields on old cruiser _Shadow of Intent_ as well as the new command vessel, _Eternal Dawn_. The space stations were far out of range for the separatist ships, but they didn't know it.

"Leave the lead ship alone, I shall board it soon. Target the other ships and fire!"

"Sir, they've deployed boarding craft towards the Vadam Battlegroup!" The scanner operator yelled.

"What of it?"

"During the First Battle of Earth, the Malta, Athens and Cairo were boarded. The Covvies managed to plant bombs and destroy the Malta and then the Athens. Cairo was only left because of the Chief. Anyway, after the two stations went down, Regret's cruiser flew right on in without a care in the world. It's two on seventeen. We're going to need those stations if we want to save the Arbiter some trouble." Admiral Emirates explained over the bridge communicator.

Rtas nodded. "I see. Deploy the Seraphs and the Banshees. Have all Phantoms and any leftover Spirits get the troops down on the ground to help the Arbiter. I want my special operations squad to meet me in hanger six. Emirates, you have the command ship."

###

Admiral Emirates felt…odd. The Supreme Commander of the Sangheili Navy had thought him good enough to lead a command vessel. "This is Admiral Emirates. All pilots, prepare for combat. Ground forces, hop on a drop ship, get ready for ground combat. Special operations teams to hanger six. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill."

A glance at the monitor confirmed that his orders were being followed. Seraphs and Banshees were launching and flying towards the enemy. A single Phantom flew from hanger six towards the _Shadow of Intent_. Other Phantoms flew down towards the planet.

Emirates sighed. Really, the Phantoms would be better off using their Plasma mortars and turrets to play fighter/bomber, instead of working with the Spirits to relocate ground troops.

He shook his head and turned back to the tacmap. Three years of peace were blunting his skills.

###

"What is the plan, commander? You said we would board that lead ship." One of the Elites asked.

"We are going to fly a Dragonfly over their lead ship, drop a Scarab and two Locust with us onboard, then the walkers will take out key systems whilst we board the vessel. Then, when we're ready, the two Locust will retreat, we'll beam the Scarab, it will fire at the reactor and we'll leave."

"That is the craziest plan I've ever heard." The human ODST snorted. "Let's do it." He pumped his shotgun, as if supporting his statement.

###

"Sir, what should we…sir?" The battle droid looked around for a moment. "Did anyone see the boss?"

A chorus of "No, sir" from mechanical lips was its answer.

"Ok then…open fire! All weapons systems!" Then it noticed a huge green transport headed for the cruiser. It stopped above the cruiser, and a faint purple beam appeared from its underside. Suddenly, two large four-legged walkers dropped from the beam, firing their weapons at turrets and gunships. An even larger walker dropped, shaking the floor. It pointed its main cannon down and fired. There was a brief explosion and suddenly alarms started blaring.

"Hull breach in sector sixteen! Hull breach in sector sixteen!"

The droids watched with a strange lack of emotion as twelve shimmers made their way towards the hole.

"All units stand by to repel boarders!"

###

Whilst the Dragonfly heavy transport did its job, the Yua, Kua and Oua were doing theirs. As the Dragonfly left the _Shadow of Intent_ there had been sixteen other ships. Four had been damaged, but none destroyed.

Now, six of the seventeen cruisers were scrap heaps, one was being boarded, and three were drifting. The remaining nine focused their fire on the _Eternal Dawn_, but it simply diverted power from the engines and switched to photon reflectors, since that seemed to be the type of weapon being used against them. The shields, Admiral Emirates noted, were still at sixty-two percent, and one third of the foes had been destroyed in glorious explosions. The _Shadow of Intent_ had fallen back, dedicating itself to be used as a fighter support craft. Wave after wave of Seraphs swarmed from the carrier, slicing through their metal foes like butter.

Suddenly, a bright flash from behind the enemy forces. A single ship emerged. On its prow were only its serial number and name.

_92352 _

_UOAG Thermopylae_

Emirates allowed himself a smile. One of the junior officers threw his fist in the air. "They are sooo screwed now!"

Four strange arrowhead ships joined them. Lasers fired, and suddenly another cruiser was so much burning scrap. Then all but the lead ship turned, stretched out, and disappeared as quickly as they had come.

"Well that was totally unexpected." One of the humans muttered.

"You are too used to fighting us in space, human. We would never have run, even from such odds." The Sangheili helmsman grunted.

A wave of agreement throughout the bridge.

"Alright, boys, let's see what's going on with those unknowns."

"One moment sir, there's a small frigate…or a large corvette, depending on how you look at it…incoming. Doesn't seem to be with the _Thermopylae._"

"Alright, have Emirates sort out those unknowns; I'll talk to the newcomer."

"Aye, sir." The communications officer tapped a few buttons and said something into his mike. Rtas was too busy examining the new ship. Shaped like an eagle or hawk, with wide wings that narrowed down at the rear. A large cannon of some kind protruded from the front, giving the appearance of a beak. Rtas pressed a button. A white and gold helmet appeared.

"Greetings, alien. I am Cecill Sunhawker, and I want to have a chat with the Republic. So if you'll please excuse me, I have some scamming to do."

The link cut out. If Rtas had an eyebrow, he would have raised it. "Put me on to the Arbiter. I have some news for him."

###

Cao 'Sraom was rarely worried. The Sangheili Major had jumped into the war when several of his friends had been killed by raging Brutes. He had stolen a dead Ultra's sword and killed the whole team. A surviving Zealot gave him the field promotion right there.

He had faced down berserk Brutes, hordes of the Parasite and had fought, briefly, with a demon. He had lost one of his four thumbs in that fight. After he had been through that, he became unmovable. Nothing worried him.

Except this mission. He was to escort Supreme Commander 'Vadam and several mixed-species special operation troopers onto the enemy command ship.

When it was in space.

He had done some odd things in the army, but dropping a Scarab from a Dragonfly carrier onto a moving spaceship bristling with guns? This one took the prize. _At least,_ he reasoned, _I have two Locust supporting me._

But still.

"Fire the cannon, breach the hull."

Cao nearly screamed. N'tho 'Sraom did that a lot. Since the Great Schism four years ago, N'tho had soared through the ranks, on personal recommendation from the Arbiter. It seemed that the power had gotten to his head.

"Of course."

The Scarab's main cannon fired, blasting clean through three decks of the enemy cruiser.

"Excellent. It is time to board the ship. Good luck." The Special operations soldier left towards the rest of the team. Cao wondered when they had found the time to make this Scarab space worthy.

###

Jake grinned as the Cheetah rose from the hanger floor. The Tigers were already gone, no doubt blasting these 'battle droids' with their blast cannons. Theel and Alley's ships were behind him as he passed the forcefield. Sabres, Scimitars and Longswords launched, carefully guarding various boarding craft on route to the lead ship. He briefly wondered why a spec ops insertion had turned into an all out siege, but hey, no time like the present. He threw the ship to the side, narrowly avoiding a beam of light and a volley of missiles. The offending ship was sliced in half by plasma for its trouble.

Theel and Alley had split off, chasing and blasting targets, dodging and weaving. A Tiger flew past, blasting a bomber into oblivion. A sharp dive later Jake was in pursuit of a gunship headed for the _Kua. _Two turrets opened up, trying to score a hit, but the Cheetah was faster. As he locked on with missiles, three unknown ships flew over him and his target. Six blue blobs smashed into the ship, and it exploded. Jake grunted. He hated when people stole his kills.

**A/N: Jacob:**

**1: Already said in this chapter, it's been four years.**

**2: The Jackals (and the Skirmishers, which are actually the same species as Jackals.) and Engineers will be with the UOAG, yes. The remaining Prophets are still leading the Brutes and Drones to war against the UOAG though.**

**3: Yes, they come in soon.**

**4: Yes, yes, no, no, no and some more you forgot to mention **

**5: No**

**6: Nope. They are the Marines from Alien Swarm.**

**7: Indeed. The Cheetah, Tiger and Dragonfly units, as well as the Space Scarab are examples of this.**

**8: Two years after Geonosis. If this doesn't fit with Ahsoka being Anakin's padawan, then I may change this.**

**9: Yes indeed. We see some familiar faces here such as the Supreme Commander (Thel 'Vadam was the Supreme Commander before he became the Arbiter.) **

**10: Feel this is pointless to answer, both are included in this chapter. **

**11: Indeed. Soon.**

**12: United Orion Arm Government.**


	5. Siege

**A/N: Ninja named Steve; I haven't received any flames or hate mail. Yet. So you don't have to worry. Yet.**

**GROUND BATTLE HELL YEAH**

**AND ALSO SOME BORING POLITICAL STUFF. BORING BUT IMPORTANT**

Admiral Emirates raised an eyebrow. "So these newcomers, these Republicans, are from a different universe and they've been at war for two years nearly."

"Yeah, pretty much, sir." Lagnier replied over the com.

"Did you tell them that's nothing compared to the Hu-Cov war?"

Lagnier chuckled. "Only you sir, only you. I did inform them. The old man was quite surprised. Apparently they could not sense the death of billions of civilians in the course of twenty seven years. All their talk of reading minds and telekinesis seems to be rubbish anyway. I was going to ask them to prove it at the negotiations at Diallis, but then we received your signal. Soon as we sent them visual, they decided that the droids invading were the guys they were sent to kill. So here we are."

"A turn of luck, Captain. The Arbiter, the Supreme Commander and several military chiefs are stationed here, not to mention several politicians and officers on duty here from Earth, Balaho and Te. The negotiations will be well watched and we will be able to proceed soon. By soon I mean as soon as the Arbiter finishes destroying those 'honourless scrap heaps'."

Lagnier let out another smile. "Ok. Let's see how good the Republic is on the ground, shall we?"

Emirates grinned. "Great minds…"

###

Six ODSTs and six Special Operations Sangheili dropped through the hole. Two skeletal metal beings were making their slow way down the hall. Magnetic soles, judging by the blue glow under their feet.

"Scrap them. We will clear these dishonourable beasts from this ship." Rtas commanded, bringing up his sword. As he and the other troopers snapped into existence, the droids turned to each other.

"Whoa!"

"How'd they do that?"

"I don't know; go for the one with the lightsabre!"

The droids started firing. The ODSTs fired back. Their rounds bounced straight off. The sergeant, the only one with a shotgun, rushed up, blasting one in the chest. The ODST sniper, Luke, got the next one's head.

The team examined the bodies. Sam, the ODST tech, picked up one of the rifles. "Hm…odd. I see no clip or battery." Flicking a switch, a small black section dropped out. "Ah, that would be the clip."

Pointing the gun at the wall, he pulled the trigger. Nothing. Sliding the clip in, he tried again. This time, three beams of red light slammed into the wall in rapid succession. "Burst fire light based weaponry; armour appears to deflect ballistics, apart from high velocity. Plasma seems much more effective."

The sergeant nodded. "Alrighty. Sam, Jack, grab the lasers, since you have ARs. Everyone else, grab any guns you find. Let's move."

Sam was already ahead of them. "Sir, door's locked."

"What the hell do you get paid for, then? Unlock it!" The sergeant grunted.

Rtas made a note to have this man investigated.

"I can't, sir. It's an unfamiliar system which seems to rely on interface from the droids, or a specialised hacking tool only."

Suddenly, Luke's acknowledgement light flicked red. "Contacts coming in. White guys, don't look like the tin men, bigger guns. Human, or humanoid. And some orange alien girl with a weird energy sword and a space suit. Should I engage?"

"Negative. I will attempt to communicate." Rtas commanded, heading to the point of entry. A white open-sided shuttle hovered above the hole, several soldiers disembarking. Rtas opened the line to Cao in the Scarab. "Who are these people? Why did you let them board?"

"They came from one of the unknown ships. Captain Lagnier ordered me not to fire."

"Very well. Keep taking out their turrets. If you or the Locust walkers get damaged, pull out. I have a feeling you'll be needed."

"Yes, sir."

The alien girl approached Rtas, three of the seven white men trailing behind her. Rtas noted that they all had blue markings on their armour, and one had a dark grey shoulder pauldron as well. The leader, Rtas presumed.

"I am Ahsoka Tano. Master Skywalker sent me with Riptide Squad to assist you." The alien girl said, turning off her odd energy sword. Next, the trooper with the pauldron spoke.

"CC-8262, or Frenzy for short. I'm the leader of Riptide. This is Hacks and Boost." He motioned to the men behind him.

Rtas noted one had a large thrust pack of sorts on his back. The other had a cutting tool at his belt.

"The others are Scope, Khaki, Rapid, Bio and our new guy, CT-4523. We haven't named him yet."

Rtas would have raised any eyebrow, if he'd had one. Instead he cocked his head to the side, a motion he had adopted from Emirates. "Do you not give names at your birth?"

"Clones don't." Ahsoka answered.

Rtas turned to her. "You command clones? Interesting. Forerunner and Human tech never went to cloning…"

Now Ahsoka raised an eyebrow. "You really are primitive, aren't you?"

Her answer came in the form of a sword floating against her neck, held by an invisible figure.

"Primitive? Hardly. Now, if you are here to assist, there is a door we need to open. This way." Rtas disabled his sword and led them past the ODST sniper, who packed up and followed. They met the rest of the team at the bulkhead. "Here. We do not have the equipment to hack this."

The clone with the flat helmet and the cutting tool stepped forwards. "Ah, I see. When your laser blast cut into the deck, this airlock closed. I imagine it's the same at the other airlocks in this sector. I can open it, just give me a sec."

He flipped the cutting tool upside down, and connected it to the door computer. He twisted it, and the door slid open. "Ok, good to go."

The clones went first, backed up by the ODSTs and Sangheili. Hacks removed his cutter and slid through before closing the door with the same method. After a few seconds, the air level in the area went back to full.

Frenzy raised his hand.

"Alright, ma'am. Air is clean to breath. Restock canisters."

The clones didn't appear to act, but suddenly air filters opened on the sides of their helmets and the air pipes stopped bulging. The alien removed her fish tank helmet.

Frenzy pointed down the hall. "That way leads to the Bridge. I presume that is your objective?"

Rtas nodded. "Or another terminal where we can access the com systems and all databanks."

Hack nodded. "You'll want the Bridge or Tech. Bridge is closer, Tech is relatively unguarded. But they can shut off the Tech terminals using the Bridge override. You can't shut off Bridge terminals, at least, not completely."

"I tell you what. Hack can go with you to Tech, whilst we make our way to the Bridge. If they shut you off, the way to the Bridge should be clear."

N'tho shook his head. "You may have better tech, but we have numbers. Can your troopers go invisible?"

"Khaki can." Rapid snorted. In response, the clone in the black armour shimmered and disappeared.

"Alright, fine. Here is what I suggest. We stick together, storm the bridge, kill stuff, get Tiberius or Kanto into the system, and leave, blowing this thing up behind us." The ODST Sergeant waved his arms to emphasise his point.

"An excellent plan, Carl. Could you be more specific?" Ahsoka asked with a sweet smile.

"Well, we shoul- Hey! I never told you my name!"

"They really are telepaths." Muttered Jack.

"Well, I am, Jack. Not to worry, I won't steal your secrets." Ahsoka grinned again.

Rtas glared at her and grabbed the hilt of his sword again. "Do that again and you will answer to my sword."

Ahsoka saw the look in his eyes and retreated. "Time to go, Frenzy?"

"Yes, ma'am. Squad, form up!"

Rtas bellowed a command in Sangheili and his group formed up, with N'tho beside him and the other four behind. The six ODSTs split and jogged three on either side of the clones. Ahsoka ran in the middle.

They arrived at the bridge without incident, although when they got there, what they saw made Jack drop his liberated blaster in shock.

###

Jason Reed whooped as another gunship got shot down by his tank. Ahead, skeletal metal beings were standing, firing strange weapons. Sangheili were taking hits by the thousands, shields flaring and desperately trying to keep up. Reed grabbed his radio. "Yo, Alex, get the 'Hogs over to the right flank. They need some backup. We have two crashed Mongoose over there as well, looks like the riders are wounded, not dead. I want to keep it that way. Shane, what's the ETA on the _Thermopylae _ground forces?"

"ETA now, sir. I don't see them though…"

Suddenly, a wave of Pelicans flew over, guarded by Vultures, Hawks and Hornets. Each Pelican dropped a Grizzly tank from its cargo bay, and then two squads of ODSTs would file out and join the fight.

Albatross carriers were next, deploying Cyclops walkers, Rhino artillery, Gremlin, Cobra and Wolverine tanks, and three Elephant support units, along with almost a hundred more warthogs. The reinforcements opened fire, toppling many droids from the top of the hill. Slowly, the ODSTs and the Sangheili forced the droids back, as their vehicles were targeted and destroyed by Rhino and Wraith artillery.

Soon, the defenders found themselves facing a large wall, six metres high. After the focused fire of all twelve Grizzlies, one hundred and sixty Scorpions and twenty Serpents, the wall collapsed. Inside, several bulky drones were fleeing this way and that, some dragging trays of dirt or stone.

They fled to a large tyre-shaped building, surrounded by tall towers. Turrets split from within the tall towers, firing on the ground forces. A Vulture flew too close and took a missile to the wing, exploding instantly.

The infantry spread out, taking down any lone targets as the tanks fired at the various buildings. Cyclops walkers managed to break into one building, and a group of ODSTs stormed it. Soon, the turrets turned on their former allies, towers breaking apart in flashes of green and red.

Suddenly, several towers behind the tyre building fell, revealing a thousand-strong force of white clad troopers. There were eight legged tanks and artillery mixed in with them, as small open-air walkers rushed forward, lasers firing and grenades flying. Droids scattered, blown to pieces by the sheer firepower of the Republic forces.

The ODST controlled tower fell and soldiers jumped from various windows to escape the falling building. The tank fire soon took out the last two towers, and they all turned to the large tyre. The Arbiter jogged to Reed's tank.

"Commander, take us to the leader of our allies."

Reed nodded and moved aside to let the Arbiter in. The tank trundled on, past the UOAG forces and towards the clones. A clone with blue markings and a grey pauldron approached the tank and climbed onto the side, knocking on the hatch.

The Arbiter pushed it open and climbed out, dropping beside the clone. Reed stuck his head out and nodded.

"I'm Rex, captain of Torrent Company. General Kenobi is acting ground commander, he'll be here shortly." The clone paused and put a hand to the side of his helmet. He nodded furiously for a second, before turning back to the surprised UOAG leaders. "Sorry, just got a report from Frenzy on the cruiser up there. He says they might need backup. Ah, here is General Kenobi."

Rex pointed to an auburn haired, blue eyed man in bright brown robes. He nodded to them.

"I don't believe we've met. Jedi Master Kenobi, at your service."

###

"What do you mean there's no way in? There's always a way in!" Eliot protested.

"No way. I see six wheelie guys with bubble shields, and about fifty skinnies." Luke frowned. "No way."

Ahsoka looked at Rtas. "Do you have grenades?"

Rtas looked at her questioningly. "Of course we have grenades? What kind of special operations team doesn't?"

Ahsoka shrugged. "Use grenades on the battle droids, I'll get the droidikas."

Rtas shrugged and turned to his forces. "Grenades! Throw!"

"FRAG OUT!" Luke yelled, tossing.

"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Eliot agreed as he threw his stick of C4.

Six blue plasma grenades, five fragmentation grenades, a stick of C4 and eight thermal detonators found themselves at the droid's feet.

"Uh oh."

"Roger roger."

With an ear-splitting boom, the droids in the hall made the fastest transition from fighter to slag Ahsoka had ever seen. CT-4523 and Eliot, the two demolitions experts, high-fived each other as the explosion blinded them.

"You know, your number sounds kinda like C4. I like C4. It's just awesome. And it fits, since you're the demo man."

Rapid looked at him. "C4. Nice and easy to remember. I like it."

Frenzy nodded and shook hands with the clone. "Welcome to the squad, C4. Let's move!"

The troopers dived around the corner. Ahsoka dashed in, slicing one Magna-guard before three more attacked her. Rtas and N'tho drew their blades and lured the other two away. As three sword-fights raged in the room, everyone else started shooting anything and everything. Boost's EMP cannon took out another Droidika, who had lost its shield to C4's rocket. Hacks blasted two droids with his shotgun, Rapid cut up six more with his chain gun and Scope and Khaki went killing spree with their pistols.

The ODSTs weren't faring as good, so they fell back as the four Spec Ops Sangheili took the droids down with their plasma weapons.

Carl looked at his men. Only Sam and Jack were still firing their droid rifles. "Next time, I'm getting a Plasma Scattergun."

"I'm getting a fuel rod. Or one of those things." Eliot said, pointing at Boost's EMP Cannon.

Carl shrugged. "Ah well. At least the crazy guy is happy."

"As a wise man once said, 'I heard that…jackass!'" Eliot retorted.

"Just how many Sergeant Major Avery Johnson Junior quotes do you have?" Jack asked quizzically.


	6. Impressions

**A/N: ATTENTION: FOR ALL YOU PEOPLE WHO LIVE UNDER ROCKS (OR DON'T WATCH E3) HALO: CE GRAPHIC OVERHAUL AND HALO 4 HAVE BEEN CONFIRMED BY 343 INDUSTRIES WHO NOW OWN THE HALO LICENSCE. ALSO THE CHIEF NOW HAS A BUILT IN JETPACK HELL YEAAAH!**

**Ahem.**

**Sorry for the delay, was playing too much Minecraft on the SSLF private server.**

**Jacob, in answer to your questions:**

**1: He got it from an outside source, explained next chapter if all goes well.**

**2: Well I have decided that only high velocity or close range rounds can penetrate and deal damage. Other bullets either penetrate but don't affect much or bounce off, as stated.**

**3: The Arbiter said much the same thing in Chapter 2. I guess I just forgot to put that in.**

**4: Yes, yes they do. If you gave Halo vehicles SW shields, power cores, engines and guns, then you would have an unbeatable force. I mean, a Scarab with turbolaser cannons and energy shields? Hell yeah.**

**5: Thank you very much. I'm a massive fan of Vultures and Hornets; they were the first units I used when I played Halo Wars at a friend's place.**

**6: They are. Armour abilities, I'm not so sure about though.**

**Duststalker, what the hell is that supposed to mean? Also, it's Tartarus not Tarturus. I think.**

Within two minutes of the impromptu door breach, the joint UOAG/Republic forces had secured the bridge. Tiberius was sending some data files to the Vadam Citadel, and the ODSTs were calling in their ride. The clones were preparing to leave as well.

Tiberius appeared on a holotable. "All data files transmitted. We are good to go."

Ahsoka nodded at the hologram. "Alright, Riptide. Let's move on out of here." The clones formed up and left the bridge. As soon as the elevator doors closed, Rtas shook his head.

"Ignorant, dishonourable creatures. Human they may be, but honourable they aren't."

N'tho grunted. "Well, I asked Khaki. He said he was trained since birth to fight. And he says he's ten."

This made Rtas even angrier. "Trained since birth? The demons are trained from a young age, but not from birth, and they certainly put up more of a fight! If that is the best their training can do, I bet the first thing they will do in our alliance is get us to train them. Better yet, they could gather a proper army of proper humans, as the UNSC did before us."

Carl nodded. "I've seen colonial militia with more skill then them. The only reason they were better than us is that bullets don't work on these guys."

The ODSTs nodded at their leader's comment. Sam held up his blaster. "Maybe we should take a crate or two of these back with us, for study."

Rtas nodded. "It would remove your disadvantage. We would be free to go to war. In the meantime, we should return to the Scarab. The Arbiter may need us on the ground."

"Doubt it." N'tho said to himself as he followed the Supreme Commander.

###

The Arbiter nodded at the Republican general before him. "So it is agreed. We will travel with you in the _Thermopylae _to your planet to begin full negotiations, and a full truce is in place until then."

"Correct." The man nodded. "If that's all, we should get back to the ships. I will send a messenger ahead of us to alert Coruscant. I will see you there."

The man turned around, Rex at his heels, and they made their way through the clone lines. As they passed, the clones about-turned and began marching back the way they came.

The Arbiter shook his head in amazement. Dishonourable as they were, the clones worked very well in groups. They moved as one, stood as one, shot as one, and fought as one. Alone, they were terrible. In platoons, they could easily match an Ultra in combat. Maybe a Zealot if he was ill.

Turning, the Arbiter began to climb one of the more intact towers. Igniting his Energy Sword, he thrust it in to the air.

"PEOPLE OF SANGHEILI!" This got the attention of the soldiers below. Obi-Wan and Rex turned around, but the other clones kept marching. "Today, history has once again been made. In the First Age of Truth, war has been declared. These cowardly fools, dishonourable abominations, have invaded our planet, destroyed our homes, and killed our brothers!"

He quickly checked the information on his HUD. "Almost seventeen thousand Sangheili, Hugarok, Unggoy, Kig-Yar, Humans and Mgalekgolo died when these evil doers bombed the city, safe behind armour plating and several thousand feet of air. But this is not the first time. According to our new allies from far a field, these metal vermin have been doing much the same for almost three years! And if they think that they can escape the fate we will take to them, they are wrong. Because there is no stronger and more determined force, than a force fighting for their peace, their safety…their home!"

A roar of approval spread through the ranks of the soldiers like a wildfire. Behind the Arbiter, Rex and Obi-Wan exchanged nods, before turning and following their men towards the mass of gunships floating nearby.

The Arbiter grinned and jumped down from the tower, shields flaring as he hit the ground. Staggering to his feet, he strode to Reed's tank. Slapping the side of the hull, he tugged the hatch open and dropped in. Nodding at Reed, he gave a single order. "Take us home."

###

Lord Admiral Terrance Hood glanced once again at the holopad. "This is unbelievable." He tapped a button on his desk. "Bring up the President. And whoever's in charge of the UOAIA. On the double."

"Aye, sir." The intern hung up. Hood sat down again, trying to decide what to take.

###

Chancellor Palpatine frowned. This complicated matters a lot. It would be far, far harder now to execute his evil plans. This OUAG would undoubtedly oppose him if he attempted to kill the Jedi off. He scratched his chin, deep in thought. Suddenly, the door burst open and an exhausted intern sprinted in.

"Sir, scanners are detecting two odd wormholes in orbit, growing larger by the minute."

Palpatine rose and followed the intern to the senate security centre. He gazed fixedly upon the main screen, which featured two large blue holes amid a background of black, speckled with white. Then, as he watched, the bow of an enormous green ship, three and a half kilometres long, appeared. The ship looked distorted, bulbous and curvy. Suddenly, the other portal spat out a ship. This one was a large silvery grey behemoth, easily four kilometres long.

Around the room, jaws dropped like flies. "What is that thing?" "Holy…" and other such expressions filled the air.

_Well._ Thought Palpatine. _I think it's time I headed to the Senate Hall._

And so he did.

###

As the _Eternal Dawn _and the _Thermopylae_ entered the atmosphere, they were swarmed by thousands of small hovering vehicles, apparently news vessels.

"Hey look, we're gunna be famous!" Luke thrust his fist in the air. "I always wanted to be famous."

Eliot opened his mouth to speak, paused for a second, then sighed. "Johnson didn't have any quotes for this! I can't believe it!"

"You would believe rain wasn't wet if the Sergeant told you so." Usze 'Taham grunted.

Eliot opened his mouth once again to retort, when Carl tapped him on the shoulder. "Alright, everybody, time to suit up. Let's go."

###

Cao smiled and punched the button. The Scarab dropped from the Dragonfly, landing on a large pad attached to a nearby building. The Arbiter, Usze, N'tho, Rtas, and the Honour Guard units glared at him as the politicians climbed to their feet.

Above the Scarab, three Pelicans and nine Hawks circled in the air. Cao pushed the command key and the walker began to lumber across the bridge towards the tower that was their destination. Civilians of many species fled as the assault unit moved closer to the Senate tower. The UOAG air units formed up and dashed ahead, circling a large platform on a higher level of the building. The Scarab reached the wall in minutes. One of the Kig-Yar senators smiled. "Is this our stop?"

Cao shook his head. "We need to go up a bit."

The Kig-Yar looked shocked. "Up?"

"Up." The walker began to climb the building, eventually pulling itself onto the landing pad the air units had selected. The walker crouched down on the platform and the Hawks landed around it. The ODSTs and Spartan IVs disembarked, and the Hawks flew back towards the _UOAG Thermopylae_, leaving the Pelicans. Lord Admiral Hood, UOAIA Chief Ulee Yua and President Kenlay stepped off, one from each Pelican, escorted by a squad of marines. The marines formed up across the pad, protecting the vehicles, whilst the rest headed into the building, carefully avoiding the gaze of the stunned squad of Royal Guards.

###

Every eye was turned towards the entrance. When it opened, four small, red clad creatures with large packs of a sort on their back walked in. Another creature, this one with gold armour and red decals, appeared to be leading them. Next were the humanoids, wearing ornamental red and gold armour. The bird-like creatures came next, using energy shields to protect the mixed species senators who followed.

Behind them came the odd-legged tall ones and finally, two hulking creatures who stepped through the door one at a time. The entire group with weapons wore red with gold, their leaders wearing gold with red. The senators were wearing different clothes of their species.

The odd-legged one in the grey armour stepped forward. Palpatine noted that there was no senator for this species.

"I am the Arbiter of the Sangheili, one of the four major leaders of the UOAG." Palpatine noted a small mark on his chest, a brand of some kind.

"We come in peace."


	7. Return

**A/N: Sorry this took so long and it's so short, writer's block. Having scrapped parts several times, I was getting pretty annoyed. A little break, and then just last night I came up with an idea, which comprises the main points of this chapter.**

"Why don't yousa starten by givin usa a brief historee?" A Gungan official asked.

The Arbiter nodded. "Thirty-one years ago, by the calendar of the humans, we started a war. It was between the San Shyumm's Covenant, and the Humans. We, our species, and the Unggoy, the Kig-Yar, the Hugarok, the Mgalekgolo, we were blinded. The traitorous Prophets of Truth, Regret and Mercy abandoned the old ways, declaring war on the humans, saying they were an affront to the gods. We believed them."

Lord Admiral Hood took the lead. "For twenty seven years, we were at war. We lost all our planets, one by one, but we made them pay. We made them pay for every burned planet, every destroyed frigate. After the first contact on Harvest, we knew we were screwed. They had better soldiers, better tech, and better ships. But we survived."

Rtas spoke up. "But we were deceived until the end. It was not until the Oracle, a Forerunner AI unit and monitor of a Halo, informed us of what they were for. The Covenant split. The Sangheili rebelled. Many Unggoy and Mgalekgolo followed us. The Hugarok and Kig-Yar joined us after the last Prophet died by the Arbiter's hand. We still fight the Loyalists. But by now, the few left have learned that it's best to stay away from us."

Palpatine cleared his throat and spoke. "What exactly is a Halo?"

The Arbiter answered. "A huge ring world, machine on the outside and containing ecosystems on the inner edge. They are huge, ten thousand kilometres wide. Their only purpose is to kill the Flood. It does this by wiping out their food. Unfortunately, food for the Flood happens to be anything sentient."

The assembled senators gasped.

"In our history, we have found two Halos, and the Ark, the main control station for the Halos. It's also where replacements are made for destroyed rings." Hood explained. "The first one we found, Installation Oh-four, was nearly fired by the legendary Master Chief, before he discovered what it was for. He destroyed it by overloading the Pillar of Autumn's reactor."

The Arbiter took over again. "The second ring we found was not destroyed. Rather, I, with help from Sergeant Johnson and Commander Keyes, sent the ring into standby, meaning it could only be fired from the Ark."

"After we located the Ark, the Master Chief, N'tho, Usze and I fired the ring that was being constructed, Oh-four be, causing colossal damage to the Ark, wiping out the entire Flood army and the remaining Covenant loyalists."

"Unfortunately, although the Ark was still semi-operational, the portal failed, and only the front half of the Forward Unto Dawn made it through. The Master Chief is still missing."

###

UOAIA Chief Yua was absolutely shocked. He was standing with a man named Syky, who claimed to be the 'Jedi Guardian of this facility' and overlooking a small chamber, several metres long and equally as high and wide. Inside were many tubes containing black blocks.

Upon closer inspection, Yua realised that these blocks contained people. According to the small screens nearby, they were completely fine, apart from the lack of breathing and pulse. Yua heard one of the head-hunters gasp.

"What's wrong, Nicole?" The other asked.

"Look…MJOLNIR Six armour…" Nicole replied. "It's the Chief!"

A211 Daniel was about as shocked as Yua looked. Spartans, here, in a place no-one in his galaxy had heard of? And the fact that one was the legendary Master Chief? This was unreal.

What he saw next shocked him even more. "Er…sir. This man, this marine."

"What about him?" Yua queried.

"It's Johnson."

"But he died! He took a shot from Guilty Spark's cannon! A direct hit! Even if he hadn't died from that, the Halo should have gotten him…" Yua glanced at the Jedi. "You have some explaining to do."

###

A knocking on the door roused Gunnery Sergeant Chris Corby from his morning coffee. He heard the faint call of 'Gunny Forge' and his daughter Gabby skipped past him into the front room. The door opened and he heard his partners and fellow ODSTs Todd and Banjo come in. Both were wearing their armour, bags slung over their back.

"Sarge, we have to go, now! There were Brutes at the bar, they saw my logo. I lost 'em, but it won't be long until they find us." Todd yelled.

Gabby looked at her father. "Brutes?"

"Doesn't matter, I'll tell you later. Now, go pack your stuff, get to the roof." He quickly added "Now!" When Gabby looked like she would stay. The girl obediently skipped off.

As soon as Gabby was out of earshot, Banjo said. "We're screwed, sir. They got three, four Brutes with power armour, about ten Drones. No Grunts or Jackals, though. And what do we got? Three magnums, a sniper, a shotgun and an ae-are."

"Two assassin droids with lasers, a Guass hog and an Albatross." He said with a smile. "Let's go."

He jumped up, grabbed a photo of himself, his wife, and Gabby, and led the remains of his squad through his house. To the stairway. Gabby was halfway up, hauling a hovertrolly filled with clothes and possessions.

Todd raised an eyebrow.

"I've been planning for this to happen. Hence why we live on the top floor of an apartment complex. Easy access to…"

The group stepped out onto the roof. Under the cover of several tarpaulins was a green Albatross heavy dropship. It was armed with two Guass turrets and two missile pods. Inside the Albatross were the promised Guass hog, several crates and boxes, and three droids.

"Gabby, get upstairs. You two, man the Guass guns." He dashed over to the control panel next to the droids and tapped a few buttons, before sealing the rear hatch and heading upstairs.

"Daddy, why are we hiding in the attic?" Gabby gave her innocent smile.

Todd chuckled. "This is no ordinary attic, kid." He said as he sat in one of the gunner seats. Banjo was already in his, checking the power levels.

Chris sat in the pilot's chair as his modified astromech droid R4-D16 plugged himself into the system. Dino, the hover carrier droid, connected to one of the missile pods and the assassin droid MA-5 took the other missile turret. "Up, up and away." Chris said as the dropship lifted off the ground and flew upwards. The tarpaulins stretched and snapped, unable to stop the behemoth cargo fighter.

Gabby pointed out of the front window. "It can fly!" She cried, as hover cars dashed past.

Chris kept moving the craft moving upwards, ignoring the faint beeping of the Courscant traffic.

"Alright, where are those Covvies?" As Banjo said this, two Phantom dropships flew round a nearby building. They stopped dead, floating for a moment as if unsure what to do. Suddenly, both sides fired. Guass rounds tore through the armour as one even as the other was vaporised by High Explosive missiles.

"If you ask me, we've outstayed our welcome." Todd commented.

Chris nodded and reached over to flick on the holotank.

"-enators from the UOAG have begun peace talks with the Galactic Senate. In other news, a large cargo ship has destroyed two civilian craft in the southwest business district. Citizens in the area are being warned to avoid this craft. That's all for now, thank you for watching News on Fifty five live!"

Chris quickly rewound the news feed to the view of the Senate chamber and paused it.

"Is that Admiral Hood?" Banjo asked.

"Looks like he's a Lord Admiral now…why aren't the ODSTs and Spartans killing those Elites and Jackals? Look, there are even Hunters!" Todd exclaimed.

"I don't know…they look like they are on the same side. They're all wearing red with gold except for those Elites…hey, didn't Gunny Forge kill that guy?" Banjo asked, pointing at the grey armoured Elite with Lord Admiral Hood.

"Yeah, I remember. All those stealth guys attacked us. The Spartans killed 'em." Todd nodded.

"Yeah, that was twenty two years ago, though. Things could have changed. Looking at this, I guess they did. R4, get us to the Senate building. Any UNSC boys will recognise us." Chris ordered.

"Yeah, and so will the cops."


	8. Confusion

**A/N: I went away on holiday a while ago and just couldn't get into it. But I have re-collected my thoughts and am now ready to send a bunch of Brutes and droids to the depths of hell, Halo style.**

**So no, this story isn't dead. **

Luke opened up his old SquadComm channel to Eliot and Jack. "Guys, how long is this going to take?"

Jack's answer was quick. "Dunno. Shut up, maybe we'll find out."

Luke sighed and flexed his neck. All this standing around was making him board. The head-hunters had left with the Spook, so he couldn't chat up Nichole, and the senators were still droning on about republic policy.

According to his mission clock, it had been two and a half hours before the alarms started blaring.

The Arbiter was quick to take command. "BACK TO THE SCARAB! HUNTERS, CLEAR A PATH! PROTECT THE SENATORS!"

The Republic senators also left, pods flying in orderly fashion towards the exits. The chancellor's pod began it's decent into his private chamber below.

The two Hunters stormed through the hallway, knocking down a Royal Guard before breaking out onto the landing pad. The marines were pointing and yelling at an Albatross dropship that was flying towards them, plumes of smoke and fire gushing from several holes. Scorch marks adorned the formerly green ship and more appeared by the second, curtsey of the two Courscant Police cruisers pursuing the UNSC dropship.

Lord Hood looked surprised. "Where'd the dropship come from?"

One of the marines shrugged. "We're reading ODST IFFs on board. Weird thing is, these three ODSTs went missing."

"When?"

"Same time as everyone else of the _Spirit of Fire_"

###

"No! Not that way! Not there, there! See?" The Unggoy held up the modified MA5U and pointed it at the wall. Pulling the trigger, a narrow beam of light slammed into the wall. The second Unggoy took the weapon and held the trigger down. A continuous beam of light. The Hugarok above them made a whistling sound.

"Sweet indeed. Make more!"

The Hugarok whistled again and flew towards a pile of salvaged droid weapons near the wall.

"Let's go tell boss!"

"Yeah, yeah!"

The two Unggoy skipped away, one carefully carrying the modified MA5U.

###

Gabby frowned as the ship rocked. "Daddy, why are the police after us? Were you bad?"

Banjo smirked and Todd offered a weak "Self defence?"

Chris ignored it and continued to weave the dropship between hovercars.

The two Police cruisers were catching up, and a volley of missiles broke a hole in one of the wings.

"Plea: Master, can we destroy the Police cruisers?"

The ODST Gunnery Sergeant frowned. "No, MA-5 the Police never tried to wipe out the UNSC so there's no point shooting."

"Offended mumble: Apart from the fact that they are firing at us."

Chris ignored the droid's remark, instead pointing out that the Senate building was in sight. Todd and Banjo rushed over to the window. Marines were running around, senators were arguing with Admiral Hood and the Scarab was rising to its feet.

"If that thing fires at us…" Banjo started.

No one needed to know the answer.

###

"So you mean to tell me that you allow civilian craft to enter areas that are clearly war zones and let them pick apart rubble from a huge space station without concern, and then randomly heal people you find in the rubble because it is the right thing to do."

"Well, I would hardly consider pirates to be the same as civilians. Anyways, if these guys are on your side, as they seem to be, then I guess I _could_ _maybe_ thaw out one of them. But I need confirmation from the Senators _and_ the Jedi Counsel, and the Force knows how slow they are to respond to these kinds of things."

One of the head-hunters tapped Yua on the shoulder. "Sir, we have to go. Shenanigans at the Senate place, apparently. Something to do with survivors from the _Spirit of Fire_."

"The _Spirit of Fire_?" You mean that nomad vessel with the eagle emblem that crashed on Tatooine? The one with weird robots following it?"

The head-hunters glanced at each other, expressions of sheer shock written on their hidden faces.

###


End file.
